My wife Luci had a service experience the other day that took us both by surprise because it happened with a company that usually has excellent service standards: Starbucks.

Luci relates what happened: “Andrew was conducting an eBay training workshop locally so I went into our local Starbucks to buy a ‘coffee traveler' – one of those boxes of fresh drip coffee designed for long drives. I also wanted 8 muffins. They didn't have any on the display stand, but I did spot some unopened boxes of muffins, scones, etc waiting to be unpacked. Picking up two boxes of muffins I was abruptly stopped by the shift supervisor. She told me I couldn't have them because that was their stock for the week.

This response took me by surprise – “isn't the point to sell them?” I asked. In my mind, I was thinking, ‘wouldn't you rather sell them now than wait and HOPE you can sell them all later?' The response to my reasoning? She grunted and rolled her eyes at me. I did a double-take at this reaction – this was the supervisor! Isn't she supposed to be the model of friendliness and service to the other staff?! Anyway, clutching my ‘hard-earned' (and still frozen, I might add) muffins, I went to pay for them. Seeing as they were still frozen and there quite a few of them, I asked for another box of hot water to defrost them quickly. The supervisor (whose pride had obviously been wounded by my logical reasoning on the muffin front) instantly lost any remaining fragments of service ability. She said she'd never been asked that before and would have to charge me for the box!

She went out the back to find out how much to charge me. By this time I had already been waiting for five minutes. Two people behind me were served while I waited – both of them received a warm smile as they were each given their $3 cups of coffee. TEN MINUTES LATER – no kidding – the sour-faced supervisor came back and informed me they would charge me $5 for the box if I wanted the hot water.

By this point, I was fed up and just wanted to leave – I'd had plenty of time to work out that with the traveler box of coffee, the box was in fact free (it was the same price as the equivalent amount of coffee sold in cups). I dropped the issue of the extra box and instead asked for two Venti cups (the largest size) full of hot water.

Apparently that was an acceptable request, and I was granted 4 cups. She gave me the hot water, each cup doubled up, in a four-cup tray, obviously not even considering that the cost of that amount of cups plus the tray probably amounted to more than the box would have been! I paid $45 for all these items, waited fifteen minutes, and the only smile or ‘thank you' I received was from the trainee who I discovered had been there just three days! Correct me if I'm wrong but, seeing as I'd spent $45 in the store, shouldn't I have been treated at LEAST as good as (if not better than) the people behind me who spent $3 apiece?”

The lesson from this should be obvious. The experience left a bitter taste in Luci's mouth (pardon the pun) and resulted in negative publicity for Starbucks because we told our family and friends (and now you) how she was treated there. The actions of that one employee colored our view of the company and we'll think twice before using that store again (bad news for them with what we spend!).

Customers are the lifeblood of your business. Treat (and view) each customer like they are your ONLY customer and they will respond in kind. They are giving you their hard-earned money - treat them like royalty and they will respond with loyalty and great referrals. Treat them like a ‘necessary nuisance' or a disturbance (as Luci was treated) and you will watch your business's lifeblood slowly ebb away, one customer at a time.

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